What struck me as particularly disturbing was that a day after roses and tulips were laid on the grave of former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, his assassin was welcomed with rose petals and slogans of Allah-o-Akbar or “Allah is great” at an anti-terrorist court in Rawalpindi.

The murderer, Mumtaz Qadri, was a member of the elite police force employed to protect Taseer from terrorists. But minutes after the terrorist within him riddled the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) governor’s body with 26 bullets, he surrendered with a smug grin and an explanation: Qadri assassinated Taseer because the governor had spoken out against the blasphemy law, which makes it illegal to speak ill of Islam (punishment can range from fines to death), and raised his voice in defense of a poor Christian mother of four, sentenced to death, who he believed had been wrongly accused of dishonoring Prophet Muhammed.

At least, this is the reason the young, bearded assassin gave at the time of his arrest. But as hours pass, conspiracy theories have started making the rounds, with members of the governing PPP wondering if their rival party, the PML-N, which controls Punjab, deliberately provided inadequate security to the governor. More vocal PPP members have gone so far as to call Taseer’s death a political murder.

Taseer, a businessman-turned-politician, endeared himself to the PPP faithful with his passionate pleas and field visits. During the floods, he visited devastated cities, laying down bricks himself to begin the process of rebuilding. When televisions reported on the rape of a young girl in a city close to his hometown, he took his daughter to the victim’s home and swore to avenge the injustice. But none of this endeared Taseer to the religious conservatives who form a good percentage of the population because the governor spoke about what few wanted to hear – democracy and liberal values.

Not too long before his death, the governor conducted one of his most memorable press appearances, taking his wife and daughter to a jail in Sheikhpura, about 40 kilometers from Lahore, to meet with Aasia Bibi, the woman accused of dishonoring the prophet.

Taseer knew he was being targeted. He had received many death threats, but continued to move freely; for instance, he chose to walk to a restaurant from his house instead of taking a car. His last Facebook and Twitter messages spoke about how standing up for what he believed in was more important than staying alive.

What was Taseer’s deadly sin? And why did his murder prompt some to distribute sweets and congratulate each other? To explain this, I need to explain the paradox that is Pakistan.

As a student, I attended the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Lahore, one of the country’s best schools, run by Christian nuns. In the morning I was taught by teachers whose names ended in King, Matthews or Cross, but in the evenings I socialized with those who would not drink water from the hands of a Christian. In the Aasia Bibi case, the dispute began over a water fountain, when a Muslim laborer refused to let a Christian “soil” her source of drinking water.

This paradox is reflected in the governor’s murder. Islam stresses tolerance, the same message echoed in the flamboyant politician’s pleas for tolerance for the accused blasphemer, for minorities, for women. Yet on the day Qadri was brought to court for remand, more than 300 lawyers offered to defend him, free of cost, all the way to the Supreme Court. And Taseer’s blood hadn’t yet been cleaned from the sidewalk when fan pages for Qadri were being set up on Facebook and hundreds of members joining almost immediately.

Since 9/11, Islamic fervor in the country has been at an all-time high. In the two decades I’ve spent in Lahore, never were beards and abayyas so common on the streets, and hardly were the words “Allah-o-Akbar” heard as they are today. Somewhere between former President Pervez Musharraf’s support of U.S. attacks in Afghanistan and the beginning of drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal agencies, the people of this country began to believe that their religion was under threat and their country’s sovereignty was being compromised.

In this time of uncertainty, Islam became more important than it ever was before, and mullahs assumed an importance they could only have dreamed of. While all this was happening, liberal values began dying a slow death. And in this changed environment, suddenly it made sense to many to celebrate the man who had killed his boss, a senseless act of cruelty against a sitting governor.

I am not sure what the future of Pakistan holds, but with Taseer dead it looks a whole lot bleaker than it did when he was among us, poking fun at the PML-N, throwing banquets at the Governor House and posting messages of optimism on Facebook.

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Comments

Guest 5

Forgive me Mr Nasir, but is it not another parodox that any muslim has a duty to convert the non believers?
So I have aproblem with all these lawyers supposedly educated people who support an Assasin by being prepared to defend him.
Equally so the larger paradox is that this man could not wait for the blasphemy law to deliver its verdict of death!?
That is anarchy against even sharia style laws, whether I agree with sharia laws or not. Actually my position is that a national reasonably democratic majority thinks the death sentence is appropriate for ” blasphemy” against Islam automatically creates another paradox when it does not impose Death sentences for Blasphemy against other religions.
What is good for the Goose is good for the Gander.
The even greater paradox of all is that the GOD is the same Islam and Christian, but only the messenger(s) i.e interpreters of gods will/words have different opinions and ideas.
I would ask both sides to be “tolerant” as it is clearly a strong aspect of Islam and Christian religions.
It seems to me the world would be a much happier place if we stopped Killing each other for each ones religious faith/beliefs ?
Regards,
Guest 5

Guest

Like most religions, Muslims are encouraged to spread the word, a process know as ‘Dawah’ whereby you invite people to understand Islam through a dialogical process. It is Islamic equivalent of missionary work.
I agree with the poster above that both sides need to be “tolerant” as it is clearly a strong aspect of Islam and Christian religions.

http://twitter.com/ijattala Imran Jattala

Ms. Ayesha Nasir: The only benefit of doubt you have coming is, perhaps, you are young and haven’t learned very much about Pakistan yet. You profess to have lived in Lahore for only two decades.

When I was twenty, I was only a third year college student. If I were to be In the US at age 20, I would have been only in the second year of a college and I could not have passed myself as a journalist, not by a long shot.

Please have a longer memory than the 9/11 events. You seem to think that Pakistan’s ‘Islamist extremism problem’ started due to the Al-Qaida attacks in New York, or the Pres. Prevez Musharraf’s alliance with the US or the US presence in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has existed since 1947. Within six years of its creation there were one of the worst secretariat attacks in Punjab in 1953, resulting in declaration of the first Marshal Law in Pakistan, by a civilian government. The Marshal Laws we have now come to hate was called due to the extremist mullahs of the newly borne country, Pakistan. If you were exposed to a copy of the Munir Commission Inquiry report of 1954, perhaps you could learn that Pakistan’s ‘extremist problem’ is not a US doing or the West’s making.

The problem exists due the mullahs themselves from the get-go and before and due to the selfishness bread into the people of that region. Your so-called leaders have been afforded opportunity after opportunity, politically, but they looted the country inside out.

The difference is – now you all have soemone to blamne it on, like the recent drone attacks within Pakistani territories – going after the same extremist element of the country that are killing your people without intermission.

I must pointout that the welcome received by the confessed assassin of the late governor at the courthouse from ‘educated’ lawyers in form of floweres, kisses, and free representation; and the tasteless scenes of jubiliation in the killers hometown, in my view make a case for more drone attacks, not less.

Need to Know is a production of Creative News Group (CNG) in association with WNET. Marc Rosenwasser is Executive Producer. Need to Know is made possible by Bernard and Irene Schwartz, Mutual of America, Citi Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation, Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS.